The brain is a fascinating organ. The more we learn about it, the more we realize how little we actually know about it. Neuroscience is a discipline with many implications in medicine. Many of the diseases and ailments present in society arise from the brain. For example, depression, schizophrenia, and aphasia, just to name a few arise from neurological defects. Depression is caused by a neurotransmitter imbalance whereas aphasia results from brain damage, often induced by a stroke. The beauty of science is that it has allowed us to create modern medicine, a tool to treat these life degrading problems. Another treatment that has sparked interest for the media recently is brain chips, or brain-computer interface (BCI), as it is formally known. Brain chips are literally as the name suggests, small technological chips that can be implanted in the brain to modulate brain activity. This fascinating technology has many medical applications. According to an article published in nature by Liam Drew titled “The brain-reading devices helping paralyzed people to move, talk and touch”, a patient that was paralyzed below the shoulders who had lost all capabilities to perform many motor functions was able to “control a robotic arm, use Photoshop software, play ‘shoot-’em-up’ video games, and now to drive a simulated car through a virtual environment, changing speed, steering and reacting to hazards.” While this was not the result of a direct brain chip, but rather something similar called Brain-computer interference, which utilizes similar technology in that the brain is connected to a computer via electrodes, we can see the potential of such technology in the commercial market.
In light of BCI and its remarkable capabilities, Elon Musk has considered this technology and seeks to capitalize on this technology and make it available for the general public. It is no surprise that Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has such ambitions; and while it may seem far-fetched, Musk has been taking giant strides toward making this vision a reality. According to Gray Kay in an article published on the Insider titled “Elon Musk says Neuralink's brain chip will be 'similar in complexity level to smartwatches”, Elon Musk has “invited smartwatch employees and people that had worked on phones to come work for Neuralink. He said that the skills developed at a wearable-tech company would be ‘directly applicable’ to Neuralink's device, even if a person has no experience with artificial intelligence”. The ambitious CEO is on the path to change modern medicine. He claims that such technology will be able to attenuate one of the leading causes of preventable deaths, obesity. Kay writes how Musk seeks to “work on bridging broken links between brain & body," Musk said on Twitter on Sunday. He added that using the implant to treat obesity was certainly physically possible.” This is certainly a bold statement, but not an unexpected one. We should not view Musk’s ambitions to treat obesity as a fallacy because brain chips and related technology have restored the lives of countless individuals, granting them previously lost abilities such as communicating.
To elaborate on how brain chips and BCI have impacted lives, we can look at their ability to help others communicate. Humans are naturally social creatures. We seek company and relationships. This aspect is what brings meaning to human life. However, many are not fortunate to develop and maintain relationships due to their inability to communicate, whether that be through verbal or graphic means. In the 2021 article titled “Call it mindwriting, A way to communicate for those who can’t speak or produce text in an ordinary way” by Bruce Goldman, we learn about a patient that “lost practically all movement below his neck because of a spinal-cord injury in 2007” that was able to catch up to the average typing speed on a mobile device of 23 words a minute by “producing a text at a rate of about 18 words per minute”. This is no normal feat, and the reason this patient was able to perform at this rate is because of the implantation of 2 aspirin sized brain interface chips. The patient simply had to “concentrate on writing individual letters of the alphabet on an imaginary legal pad with an imaginary pen” and brain chips would detect the electrical stimuli and convert it into a legible figure which would occur through an algorithm integrated in the technology. This rather recent study suggests the potential of brain chips, further reiterating the great potential of this smart technology.
All in all, brain chips are the next “big thing” when considering the technology we have now. It used to be a touch screen phone that grabbed our attention, now it will be brain chips that can be used to communicate and treat all sorts of ailments.
Works Cited
Drew, Liam. “The Brain-Reading Devices Helping Paralysed People to Move, Talk and Touch.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 20 Apr. 2022, https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01047-w.
Kay, Grace. “Elon Musk Says Neuralink's Brain Chip Will Be 'Similar in Complexity Level to Smart Watches'.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 25 Apr. 2022, https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-neuralink-brain-chip-similar-complexity-smartwatch-2022-4.
Stanford Medicine. “Brain-Implanted Chips Convert Paralyzed Man's Thoughts into Words.” Stanford Medicine, https://stanmed.stanford.edu/2021issue2/chips-implanted-brain-helps-paralyzed-man-write-words.html.
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